BLACKPOOL NORTH PIER
Such was Blackpool's popularity in the 1860s and so great were the crowds of holidaymakers arriving here that a decision was made to extend the Promenade seawards in the form of extra space provided by a pier built at the end of the straight road (Talbot Road) leading to the sea from the railway station.

North Pier, an elegant addition to the attraction of Blackpool, was opened in May 1863.

At 1,405 feet long, 27 feet wide and built from 12,000 tons of metal it claimed, in its day, to be 'the finest, strongest and most beautiful marine parade in Europe'.

It was advertised as a way of 'walking on water without getting seasick'!

The original cost of the pier was £20,000 but another £30,000 was used as ideas developed - a fortune then.

Opening day was a 'red letter' day for Blackpudlians. Fun-loving spirit overflowed (and so did the pubs apparently)!

A town crier greeted people who'd been arriving from all over the country since dawn. Some excited, not to mention foolhardy, visitors even dived off the pier in celebration - a good thing that the tide was in at the time!

After three years a jetty was built extending the pier length to 1,650 feet and two pleasure steamers 'The Queen of the Bay' and 'The Clifton' were bought by the North Pier Company. Visitors in their thousands enjoyed daily cruises to the Lake District, the Isle of Man, Llandudno, Southport and Liverpool.

Rivallry for pleasure trip trade, when Central Pier was later built, was intense. The Great War of 1914-18 intervened, however, and the trips had to stop. Sailings were later resumed but trade was never as good because of competition from other amusements. Pleasure cruises from the piers were abandoned altogether in 1939.

In 1874 the whole area of North Pier was increased by 5,000 square yards and its greatest glory, the Indian Pavilion, was built from a study of Hindu palaces and temples. It held over 2,000 people and some of the greatest instrumental and vocal artists in the world came here to perform in nightly concerts.

In those days, on Blackpool's first pier, the entertainment was very refined and definitely not for the working classes!!!

The Indian Pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1921. It was rebuilt in 1925 but burned down again, this time for good, in 1938.

Shops, refreshment rooms, bars and a small theatre remained on the now-famous North Pier and hordes of visitors still flocked here regardless of the twopence entrance charge. Various tolls were charged until 1981. Entry to the pier after this was, and still is, free.

The January gales of 1961 destroyed 40 feet of the jetty but this was quickly repaired due to public demand.

North Pier is now a listed building.

BLACKPOOL CENTRAL PIER

The building of Blackpool's second pier, originally named 'South Pier', was inspired by the immense poularity of North Pier with the upper classes of the times.

Central Pier catered for the opposite market. As the director of North Pier said at the time "I think it is a good idea that the working classes can enjoy themselves without without the surveillance of the other classes"!!

Despite complaints from the residents of central Blackpool (dancing would lower the tone of the area) building was started in June 1867 and completed in May 1868 ready for the start of the summer season.

The pier was 1,118 feet long with an iron jetty (which reached a further 400 feet into the sea) and 24 feet wide. It cost £41,000 altogether. This included the purchase of steamboats for the kind of pleasure cruises which were so popular from North Pier. They sailed daily to Liverpool, Barrow, Llandudno, Morecambe and Lytham.

At one point in the 1890s cross-channel races were organised between the piers.

Central Pier was the most popular place in the whole of Blackpool for open-air dancing with Quadrille bands playing polkas, barn dances, lancers and quadrilles from as early as 5.30am until late into the night.

In 1873 the bands were paid £3 10s weekly (Sundays extra) and in 1886 a nine piece band was hired for a fixed rate of £12 7s 6d a week.

The pierhead, with its pagoda-style frontage, was extended to give more space for dancing and it was screened from the sometimes very strong winds by a framework of wood and glass.

Admission for dancing and for entry to the hugely popular roller-skating rink opened in 1909 was one halfpenny.

Always the 'fun' pier Central pier provided rides and novelties for holidaymakers as early as 1911 when a 'Joy Wheel' was erected. Speedboats and a racing car ride were added in 1920 as extra attractions.

By 1932 a 'guess your weight and take your photo' machine had been added. Tickets were twopence and finished photos were delivered within two minutes! An automatic chip dispenser followed in the same year - you put a few pennies in the slot and opened a drawer to reveal a bag of steaming hot chips - a thrilling experience in those early days.

Open-air dancing on Central Pier reached the height of its popularity in the 1930s but even as late as the 1960s a new 170 feet long wind screen was built round the dance area.

Although Central Pier, advertised in the 1860s as 'The Peoples' Pier', has undergone many many changes during its lifetime of more than 130 years (open-air dancing, pleasure cruise and the ice-skating rink are no longer to be found here) it is still larger than life with many exciting attractions - and admission is free.

BLACKPOOL SOUTH PIER

By the 1890s Northern and Central Blackpool were prospering and thriving. South Shore was still sparsely populated though and the promenade area there was dominated by miles of rolling, barren sandhills.

South Shore residents were demanding, however, that a music and social centre was built for them - no common dancing though - their social centre had to rival that of North, not Central Pier!

South Pier, built from iron and steel, was completed in March 1893 with a budget of £50,000 using faster, newer technology - the Worthington Screwpile System.

It was only 429 feet long but wide enough to accommodate a bandstand (black and white minstrels gave a daily show here - weather permitting), several shops, an ice-cream vendor and a photograph stall. The pier was very up-market but didn't, in those early days, provide much in the way of entertainment although in 1894 a full orchestra and a select choir gave a superb performance of Handel's 'Messiah' during the summer season.

The Grand Pavillion was built a short time later. This held an audience of 3,000 people.

Holidaymakers really started exploring Blackpool's South Shore area when the first seeds of Blackpool Pleasure Beach were sewn amongst the sandhills in around 1896 when John Outhwaite erected his famous American Merry-go-round here. He was later partnered by George Bean who leased an adjacent 32 acre site for his amusement park.

South Promenade was widened in 1902 and the pier entrance had to be moved back.

In 1918 the Victoria Cinema de Luxe was opened.

The pier entrance was widened by 20 feet in 1938 and the Regal Pavillion capable of holding 1,300 people was provided. To support this, reinforced concrete piles were drive 40 feet into the sand beneath it.

Victoria Pier was renamed 'South Pier' in 1930.

The Grand Pavillion and the pier's Rainbow Theatre were destroyed by two huge fires - one in 1958 and one in 1964. Rebuilding led to a large, modern new theatre being built where, over the years, such famous show biz stars as Morecambe and Wise, Hylda Baker, Freddie and the Dreamers and Tom O'Connor amongst many others have performed.

You'll find South Pier, Blackpool's youngest pier, next to the Sandcastle Complex, across the road from the Pleasure Beach.

It is, of course, free to enter.